Slum eviction and resettlement in Delhi during Commonwealth games. Presented by Nitika Negi-Theertha Suresh-Shubham singh

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1 Slum eviction and resettlement in Delhi during Commonwealth games Presented by Nitika Negi-Theertha Suresh-Shubham singh

2 Slums The slums has become an identity of our country, something we can t boast of. This dark side of our country, if not improved, will only double in years to come. The life in Indian slums has not been hidden, but a little revision is required to awaken ourselves of the triumphs and dilapidated condition of those residing in the slums.

3 Introduction An encroachment Where do evicted slum dwellers go? Why only Yamuna Pushta slum? Analysis

Z Introduction The XIX Commonwealth Games (CWG) took place in New Delhi, India, from 3 14 October 2010.

4 Z Introduction The XIX Commonwealth Games (CWG) took place in New Delhi, India, from 3 14 October Marked by corruption, financial scandals and human rights violations, the Games continue to generate a negative image of India, both within the country and abroad. The preparations for Delhi s Commonwealth Games witnessed a range of human rights violations of the city s working poor, including the homeless, beggars, street vendors, slum dwellers, and construction workers. During this course, the city has witnessed demolitions and evictions of at least 200,000 people. These evictions have been carried out for various reasons, including construction of stadiums, building of parking lots, widening of roads, city beautification, and grounds of security. Introduction

An encroachment The Yamuna Pushta Z During mid nineteen hundreds, the need for reform in housing driven by a new utopia, free of slums and informal settlements Yamuna Pushta, starting from the ITO

5 An encroachment The Yamuna Pushta Z During mid nineteen hundreds, the need for reform in housing driven by a new utopia, free of slums and informal settlements Yamuna Pushta, starting from the ITO bridge and up to the Salimgarh Fort. It has also been home to riverbed cultivators, and over 100,000 residents a string of slum colonies (shantytown) for some 40 years. Many of these slums were being demolished in 2004, after court orders which were part of the beautification drive of the Government ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games and for creating a "green belt". In 2004, the homes of nearly 40,000 families in Yamuna Pushta, a strina settlement of 1,50,000 people that had existed, in some parts, for nearly 40 years, was labelled an "encroachment" by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the settlement violated the DDA Master Plan. The river bed, they said, was not meant for construction and habitation. Yet this same river bed apparently is a perfect site for a mammoth temple built, yet again, in violation of the Master Plan, as will be the games village and new hotels for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and, in the greatest of ironies, the Delhi secretariat. God and foreign athletes apparently have a (highly subsidised) place to live in Delhi, but the urban poor simply don't make the cut. Delhi felt it imperative to welcome the world to the Green Games in a clean, systematic and beautiful city. The infrastructure indirectly related to the Games such as roads, metro, buses, and any project concerning beautification of the city in general required the helpless, hapless citizens to sacrifice their habitat and livelihood to be swept away from sight so as to save the city from the embarrassment of its poverty-stricken population. History has shown that world over, this process of cleaning up the city, has always resulted in eviction of those who are economically too weak and politically unrepresented to be able to voice their anguish and defend their rights.

7 LIST OF SOME SITES DEMOLISHED DUE TO THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES Name of Area and Location Date and Time of Demolition Purported Reason for Demolition Number of Homes Destroyed Shaheed Arjun Das Camp January 13, 2009 covering of nallah(drain) and beautification security reasons jhuggis (homes) Camp behind Badrinath Temple (opposite Thyagaraj Sports Complex) January 13, 2009 mid day covering of nallah(drain) and beautification security reasons 50 Bengali Camp (East Kidwai Nagar) January 13, 2009 in the morning covering of nallah(drain) and beautification security reasons approximately 200 Dargah Bhure Shah Camp (Nizamuddin East, near Railway Station) May 14, 2007 around 8 AM Construction of Barapullah elevated corridor 115 Gadia Lohar Basti (near Thyagaraj Stadium) January 12, pm to widen the road and build an underpass connecting Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium with Thyagaraja Stadium 18 jhuggis (homes)

8 Indira Gandhi Camp (New Khanna Market, Lodhi Colony) February 2, 2009 to widen the road to build an underpass connecting Thyagaraj Sports Complex to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium beautification purposes 100 jhuggis that lined the road and some small shops JJ Camp, Prem Nagar January 12, 2009 to widen the road to build an underpass beautification purposes 30 Madrasi Camp, Jangpura B April 15, 2010 laying of electric wire for construction of Barapullah elevated corridor 200 Camp near Shiv Mandir in Sewa Nagar January 12, 2009 to widen the road to build an underpass beautification purposes Prabhu Market (Lodhi Colony) January 9, 2009 around 10 am 11am to build a parking lot and link road to connect Thyagaraj Sports Complex to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium 100 Sai Baba Camp (Lodhi Road) 21 June 2010, 11 am beautification purposes security reasons 25 (although MCD in court says that it destroyed only 13 homes) Viklang Basti (near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium) December 24, 2009 beautification togrow grass on the roundabout 250 people

9 What is ironic is that most of the 27,000 families displaced from Yammuna Pushta had actually come in as workers in 1980s for construction of the Games Village and stadiums when Delhi was to host the Asiad Games, and are now being ushered away in the follow-up to the Commonwealth Games in Most vanish into other parts of the city, never sure if the roof over their heads will once again be taken away. Some Pushta residents have been settled in Bawana, where each family of five or more received between 12 and 18 square metres of land that's about 12 ft x 12 ft per person! Where do evicted slum dwellers go?

The government had plenty of land next to slum like Vijay Ghat and Shakti shital. By just demolishing the houses under the pressure of police without any notice is seems to be unfair and unhumanized.

10 The government had plenty of land next to slum like Vijay Ghat and Shakti shital. By just demolishing the houses under the pressure of police without any notice is seems to be unfair and unhumanized. Some people who were able to get there houses in Bawana are still living in bad situation. According to the government the demolishing and re settling of the slum will make Delhi a modern city but by just demolishing the slums and poor people doesn't make the city a modern city, it actually made situation more worse. The new commonwealth games village seems beautiful inside the boundary but slowly the slums are coming up around it. And this will keep on growing as time passes. The new commonwealth games village serves no purpose then just make our city artificially a modern city. Realty hasn't changed by just demolishing and resettling the slums and by making poor people pay for that by losing their land, livelihood, lifetime savings The question is why only Yamuna Pushta slum?

Analysis of slum eviction Source: https://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.

11 Analysis of slum eviction Source:

View of Slums in the First Master Plan of Delhi

Image Source : PBSNewshour View of Slums in the First Master Plan of Delhi AARUSHI JAIN SHIVANG BANSAL SUMAIRHA MUMTAZ The Planned development of the city of Delhi was started with the preparation of the